The Findings of a Searching Stone
by iluvwitch
Summary: Isabella Hartwell sets off on a quest with her friends Luna Lovegood and Ann Marie Knightfall, to prepare themselves for the Battle of Hogwarts which looms ever closer. Read it and review! Go! Onwards! No I cannot be bothered to give more of a summary! Now go! And read it! Now! Please ... :
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Isabella Hartwell's feet were tired and sore, her spirit dampened and her heart heavy as she wondered around the seemingly deserted little town in Cornwall, still holding the now very hot dusty pink stone in her hand.

It was a searching stone, a very rare thing but Izzy had a knack for finding rare things, whether she wanted to or not. She had first come across this particular treasure when in the Hogwarts library, as she browsed the restricted section with caution. Searching stones, though seemingly harmless on their own, can be very useful to certain dark wizards who are searching out their prey. However, Isabella very much doubted that more than a couple of Wizards in the whole country knew what a searching stone was. No matter how many more books she checked, in every magical library, she never did not come across that peculiar little passage on the stones again, or in fact any other mention of them. In her third year she even wrote to the Ministry who only replied with a strict warning about "poking one's nose where it is not wanted".

Years passed before Izzy accidently stumbled across one, which had been sitting quite happily on a garden path, minding its own business.

Searching stones, as Izzy eventually found out, are an ancient kind of magic, around even before Merlin's time and because of their nature are incredibly rare. Although their purpose is to assist people in finding things, searching stones themselves hate being found. Hiding themselves often in plain sight, on pebbled beaches and down the back of the sofa.

If you do manage it to find one, they are no easier to use than they are to find. Holding the stone in the palm of your hand, you must think of what it is you are searching for, and slowly but surely the stone's surface will develop a higher or lower temperature. The colder the stone becomes, the further away one is from the desired object. The hotter it becomes, the closer one is to finding the lost object, which is all well and good when it is within a close distance. Unfortunately for Isabella Hartwell, what she was searching for was very far away indeed.

"How far are we know?" her friend Ann Marie Knightfall groaned, looking just as miserable as Izzy.

"We must be close, this thing is practically scorching my hand" Izzy replied, hastily taking a few steps in one direction, then another, before settling on the second path and marching purposefully towards what looked like a very unusual style of cottage in the distance. "She can't be" Izzy was sure her eyes were deceiving her as she got a closer look at the pretty shell-covered cottage. Taking a few more steps forward, Izzy suddenly forced to drop the stone that was burning the wool of her gloves and it hit the sand with a blast of steam. Glancing momentarily at Ann Marie who shrugged her shoulders, Izzy picked up the now normal temperature searching stone and was slightly worried to see the sand it had landed on was now a little gleaming bowl of glass.

"Isabella? Ann Marie?" the familiar wavering voice called over to them and both girls looked up to see the long lost Luna Lovegood standing before them, looking rather well if anything and not at all like a prisoner.

"LUNA!" both girls screamed and ran towards their friend who had long been missing from Hogwarts and whom no one had heard a word from.

"Luna! We've been tracking you for weeks! Where have you been?" Izzy asked breathlessly as she hugged her friend who as usual looked rather surprised.

"I was at Malfoy Manor but now I am here. Didn't anybody tell you?" she smiled softly, her eyes blank as usual.

"No Luna, nobody told us" Ann Marie could not help but laugh because there was no point trying to argue with a girl like Luna.

The three girls sat at the breakfast table in Shell cottage, the British weather not failing to pour with rain and strong winds would regularly shake the house as the storm continued. Izzy and Ann Marie had told Luna about the searching stone, how they came to find her and the current update on Hogwarts. Luna, however, explained almost nothing of the long time she's been gone, except that she'd seen the trio recently, in fact they'd left just a few days before the girls had arrived.

"But Luna, you can't just sit here and wait for the final battle to come! We have to do something!" Izzy's voice was already panicking but Luna just gave a sad sigh. "I can't go back to Hogwarts" she pointed out the obvious and Izzy shook her head. "Look Luna, we came prepared for this! You can always trust a Ravenclaw to do a bit of light reading before she goes trundling off into the wilderness" Ann Marie announced calmly and from her rucksack pulled a huge book with the title "The Founders of Hogwarts" brandished across the cover in large gold lettering.

"You see over the Christmas holidays I was thinking about ways to give us an advantage, if there is a battle that is" Ann Marie continued, pushing her thick rimmed glasses back from where they had slipped to the end of her nose.

"If?" Izzy raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I didn't think you wanted anything to do with the war. You certainly weren't interested in joining the DA" Luna looked more surprised than usual as she daintily sipped her tea.

"That's a story we'll have to save for another time Luna. Right now there is something we need to show you" Ann Marie smiled as she opened the book at its contents page. "I was browsing the book for anything that might be of use when I came across something very peculiar. Look here!" she pointed excitedly at something and Luna leaned over the table to get a better look.

"There's a page missing! It's not listed here at all!" Luna chirped immediately and Ann Marie nodded in response.

"And we all know that Dorothy Digglestein has a new topic for every one of her pages" Ann Marie smiled as Luna nodded in understanding.

"Oh get on with it clever clogs" Izzy huffed, rolling her eyes.

"So in my curiosity I of course check for the page which simply was not there" "And that was when she called for the assistance of moi!" Izzy chimed in and quickly stuffed a hand into her bag, retrieving a peculiar object that much resembled a time-turner, but instead of an hourglass at the centre, there was a small opal stone that Luna thought very pretty.

Isabella swiftly explained that when they had attempted to find the missing page with the searching stone, it had led to this rather peculiar necklace in the drawer of Dumbledore's old desk.

"Do you think he knew what it does?" Luna eyes were wider than usual with the anticipation of an adventure.

"Doubt it" Izzy replied thoughtfully, "but we do" she gave her friends a mischievous look as she held the necklace above the book which was promptly closed by Ann Marie.

"Find page 235" Izzy ordered the necklace, which promptly began to spin on its chain, the opal glowing faintly as it did so. Suddenly the book opened itself with a slam, the pages flicking past swiftly until it stopped on the previously missing page.

"Well that is pleasant" Luna commented as she was handed the book and began to read the page with great fervour.

After 5 minutes of the girl's eyes moving with fascination down the page, she looked up, asking "When do you suggest we leave?".


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Dorothy Digglestein, although a famous and acclaimed author of many books, was renowned to be "a bit mad". Being of a slightly dotty nature and very short attention span, almost all of her books were written with a serious lack of cohesion, not a single page written on the same topic.

The particular page that had been of great interest in the little Shell cottage was based on a myth that had circulated about 50 years before the book was published in 1852.

"Luna! Are you mad?" Bill Weasley stood with his wife looking very worried as the girl in question desperately tried close her very full rucksack. Luna didn't reply as she put on her spectrespecs and smiled a little.

"Do you really 'ave to ask Bill?" Fleur whispered and rolled her eyes before stepping forward to talk to the girl herself.

"Luna, surely you must realise ze risks you are taking, and for a couple of old relics zat might not even exist?" Fleur looked at Luna imploringly.

"And what about your father? Doesn't he have a say in this?" Bill started again before Luna could reply.

"My father?" Luna looked at the couple curiously before heading for the front door. "What's my father got to do with it?"

"No time for this Luna, we've got places to go, people to see" Izzy announced, grabbing her friend's arm as she headed to the door.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality Mr and Mrs Weasley" Ann Marie smiled apologetically. "I'll make sure Luna keeps in touch" she added and quickly ran after her friends, who by now were marching down the path and away from the house.

"Do you think I should see my father?" Luna asked absentmindedly as they made their way towards the nearest town.

"Fleur knows where we're going. If your father asks, she'll tell him. If he doesn't ask, she'll tell him anyway. We'd just be causing ourselves an awful lot of bother" Izzy replied frankly, not wishing to waste any more time. "Now, where are heading first?"

"Rowena Ravenclaw's Bow, thought to be buried somewhere in the highlands of Scotland" Ann Marie answered, tracing her finger across the page before promptly slamming the book shut and shoving it into her rucksack.

"Perfect!" Izzy exclaimed happily.

"Perhaps we shall drop in on Hogwarts while we're there" Luna's dazed smile drifted across her face at the thought.

"Perhaps" Ann Marie smiled knowingly.

"It is a well-known fact within the Wizarding World, that Rowena Ravenclaw, one of Hogwarts Founders, had a diadem that was held closely in her possession, but what most do not know is that she prised another item, rumoured to have powerful enchantments cast upon it. This was her bow and arrow, a secret kept so well for so long because Rowena herself hardly liked to admit that she owned such a muggle object. Legend dictates that Ravenclaw's bow was enchanted so that it would never miss its target. As well as this, because of its muggle nature, Ravenclaw was able to enchant the shots so that they could not easily by repelled by an amateur wizards spell.

After the founding of Hogwarts, it is said that Ravenclaw decided to hide away her deadly weapon, hoping it would no longer be needed." - Dorothy Digglestein {Founders of Hogwarts}

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

The three girls trundled up the hill that lead to Hogsmeade, all taking careful steps within the silent village for fear that someone would be lurking around any corner.

"Now are you sure the stone is leading us to Hogwarts?" Ann Marie asked for the hundredth time that day.

"Of course I'm sure!" Izzy was grumpy after holding out her aching palm for so long and having to listen too long to Luna, who was lovely but in much smaller doses.

"Well, in that case, how do you propose we get in? We can't exactly afford to stick around here for long" Ann Marie ignored Izzy's annoyance as she looked cautiously around.

"I think I have an idea" Luna remarked suddenly in the long silence that followed.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"What do you mean jump in the lake?" Izzy stared wide eyed at the girl who didn't even blink in response.

"I'll admit it is not convenient" Luna finally replied shrugging.

"Luna it's more than half a mile" Ann Marie seemed apprehensive but not at all surprised at her friend's suggestion.

"I have a spell for that" Luna smiled and took out her wand, not noticing her friend's alarmed faces.

"Now I want you to stand close together and close to the edge. On second thoughts, dump your bags here too, we don't anything to weigh us down" Luna ordered and both girls did what she asked hesitantly.

"Close your eyes" Luna smiled as both girls did so before promptly pushing them both into the lake.

"Syreni transmutatio!" Izzy heard Luna shout before she was enveloped by the cold water of the lake, squeezing both her eyes shut in panic.

It was a few moments before she opened her eyes again when she found she felt no need to come up for air but jumped back in fear when she saw a pair of bright yellow eyes gleaming back at her.

"Luna?" she asked, not sure how it was that she could suddenly speak underwater but it was hardly the last of her worries. "Luna! My legs! My legs are gone and now I have … this!" Ann Marie appeared next to Luna, looking just as frightening with her newly coloured eyes and now greyish skin.

"Was this quite necessary to get into Hogwarts?" Izzy asked grumpily as they swam swiftly towards the castle, the dark and murky waters making all three feel uneasy.

"Not too much further" Luna smiled, but now that she had a fish face it was not quite so comforting. Luna continued to lead the way until all safely reached the rocks but instead of continuing up towards the surface of the lake, she pointed a dainty grey finger towards a dark shadow further down on the rock's surface.

"Luna" Ann Marie voice could only just be heard over the pressure in Izzy's ears but as she turned around she was faced with something a lot more frightening.

"Luna!" Izzy now gave a scared yelp and Luna too turned around to see the sea of yellow eyes staring, unblinking back at them. All was silent for a moment before Luna turned her back to them and shouted to her friends to follow. It became clearer as they swam further down that they were headed towards a door in the side of the rock, surrounded by a small bubble of air which waited promisingly in the black darkness.

It was then that Izzy suddenly felt her breathing become slow and painful, her temporary form rapidly morphing back to normal and her mermaid's features fading away.

"Izzy!" Ann Marie exclaimed, she too losing her form.

"Keep swimming!" Luna ordered, for once her harsh and direct, making both girls jolt. Luna was first to cross the threshold, her mermaid form lasting much longer than the other two girls. Izzy came second, fully back to her normal self by the time she got there; with Ann Marie following close behind.

There was the spiteful hiss of the many hostile merpeople who had been following closely behind as the third of their party crossed into the bubble.

"We are not going back that way" she commented seriously as Luna unlocked the door and started to ascend the staircase up towards ground level.


End file.
